Breakthrough Performer: Blake Lively

2011 CinemaCon Honors

“When you’re on a television show 10 months of the year, that’s what you’re primarily known for,” she says. “‘The Town’ was appealing for me because it was such a departure of anything I’d ever done. Not only for other people but for me to challenge myself with.”

This year, she is Carol Ferris — “the world’s number two fighter pilot and the woman who often rescues Hal,” brags the actress — in “The Green Lantern.”

“It’s one of the longest running comics of all time and most beloved superheroes — but of an older generation. I did not know who he was,” Lively says of Hal Jordan aka the Green Lantern.

Even before filming began, Lively discovered how passionate the comics’ fans could be.

“My bodyguard who is six-seven and very serious and doesn’t speak much pulled me aside — I thought it was a security matter. He said. ‘You have to be sure your hair is brown.’ I said, ‘Yeah, I would assume so but we haven’t done it.’ He said, ‘Please trust me, make your hair brown. I don’t want the responsibility of fan boys attacking you at a convention.'”